Anyone have a R&M Homage in 49 cm frame?

[gtpharr]

I have an R&M Nevo in size 43 cm that fits me pretty well. This bike is going to my wife and it is time to order a new one for myself.

I like to get a dual battery Homage, but I'm fearful the smallest frame (49 cm) may be too large for me. I'm 5'-5" with a 27" inseam. None of the R&M dealers on the east coast have a 49 cm Homage in stock or plan to bring one in unless it is ordered for a customer. Because of this, it is going to be impossible to try a 49 cm frame to see how well it fits me.

I was wondering if any of you forum members have a 49 cm Homage? I could get lucky and find someone within a few hours drive from me. If I got that lucky, maybe you would be willing to let me try your bike out for size.

If you have any suggestions on how to figure out if the 49 cm Homage would fit me, please feel free to share them with me. Thank you.

 

[gtpharr]

I found a Culture in size 49 cm that should be nearly identical to the Homage 49 cm. I'm going to go see how this Culture fits next week.

I also found out the R&M has a price increase effective March 1st. Any bikes ordered on or after that date, will be subject to the new price. The 2021 Homage Rolhoff is going up about 8% in USA - from $9,389 to $10,169..

 

[PMAGNUSSON]

This may be too late. I would avoid the 49cm Homage because of a design flaw. It turns out there is minimal clearance between the rear fender and the rear rack. Depending on your weight, the rear rack load, and rear suspension setting, the rack will contact the fender. This can occur with a fair amount of pressure and push the fender down onto the rear wheel, particularly if the rear fender struts are not absolutely tight. As it is, there is little clearance between the fender strut mounting bolts and the wheel and will rub and potentially damage the wheel. To make matters worse, the bolts on the underside of the Arbus lock bracket can bang into the fender, crack it, and push the edge of the crack onto the rear wheel. This occurred to me. The larger frames appear to avoid this problem due to increased clearance between the rear rack and fender.

 

[Clamps]

I just thought people should know that we've determined that the issue described above is not a design flaw, but a parts failure in the rear suspension. It's discussed in this thread-

Homage 2 month review

Hey all. So I've been riding my Homage Rohloff dual battery just about every day for 2 months. Put over 1200km on it so far. I have some thoughts for anyone looking to buy one of these. First off, this is an AMAZING bike. The range, the big fat back-end with capacity for all the cargo I'd...

forums.electricbikereview.com

 

[PMAGNUSSON]

I just thought people should know that we've determined that the issue described above is not a design flaw, but a parts failure in the rear suspension. It's discussed in this thread-

Homage 2 month review

Hey all. So I've been riding my Homage Rohloff dual battery just about every day for 2 months. Put over 1200km on it so far. I have some thoughts for anyone looking to buy one of these. First off, this is an AMAZING bike. The range, the big fat back-end with capacity for all the cargo I'd...

forums.electricbikereview.com

As author of that initial post, r.e. design flaw, I would concur with Clamps. It is not a design flaw but rather a failed rear suspension strut about which there have been at least 3 posted incidents and thus not rare.